Gaijin Games

Jul 26 //
Jonathan HolmesYou'd think that success was what motivated the studio to create Dave's all-new, upcoming outer-space adventure Space Dave!, but that's not actually the case. Jason went on to say he thinks "...Space Dave! would most likely still have happened even if Woah Dave! hadn't done well. The reason being is that MiniVisions games are largely driven, in all honesty, by us making games that we want to play ourselves. They're all kinds of experimental."
"We're never sure if everyone else will be as in to these ideas as we are, but the passion on our end to make it is there, so we kinda roll with that. Also, probably worth nothing that Space Dave! is a surprisingly different formula, but still 100% a 'Dave' game."
Choice Provisions is planning to reveal Space Dave! to the world at PAX Prime this August.

Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it[Space Dave! Box in progress box art by GLIΓCH RIΓUΛL]
Woah Dave! is a gaming underdog story if ever there was one. Inspired by his young son's passion of the original Mario Bros., developer Jason Cirillo's...

We heard about April's PlayStation Plus games earlier this week but here's another late addition: Woah Dave! from Choice Provisions. The penny-collecting, alien-dodging, egg-throwing arcade game was free for subscribers back ...

Woah Dave! Deluxe! is out now on Steam, Choice Provisions just announced.
This is a free update (it's not often we get to say that these days) to the original game, featuring a myriad of enhancements, including two new level...

Do you ever think about what it would be like to play your favorite sprite-based indie games on the consoles they were influenced by? Well, you might be able to do just that with Woah Dave!, an NES-inspired game which could p...

Choice Provisions has been teasing Laserlife since the studio was called Gaijin Games. Back in 2010, Jonathan Holmes talked to Alex Neuse about the idea, but the trail went dark for a few years after that. Last year when the...

Woah Dave!, the fantastic little arcade game from the house that built Bit.Trip, is now available on PlayStation Vita for the low, low price of $5 -- or nothing if you're a PlayStation Plus subscriber.
Cool boss Jonathan Holm...

There's been a lot of Dad-related excitement on Destructoid this weekend. That hasn't been intentional. When it rains Dads, it pours Dads. This new Dad-centric story is proof of that.
Last Sunday on Sup Holmes, we learned th...

Nov 02 //
Jonathan Holmes[embed]283319:56180:0[/embed]
Woah Dave! (Steam, iOS, 3DS eShop)Developer: Jason Cirillo, Choice ProvisionsPublisher: Choice Provisions, Mini Visions labelReleased: October 30, 2014MRSP: $4.99 (Steam, 3DS eShop) $1.99 (iOS)
So why is the game called Woah Dave!? Probably for the same reason Nuts and Milk is called Nuts and Milk, or Fast Eddie is called Fast Eddie. There was a time in gaming when no one knew what would make a game marketable. Technical limitations prevented games from going for any level of realism. Mimicking the themes and concepts that made films or TV shows popular was out of the question. Instead developers tended to go with fun-to-say names, easy to pick up mechanics, and nonchalantly surreal scenarios. It was a time when AAA games were usually about abstract cartoon characters running around bizarre obstacle courses, avoiding death at the hands of cute monsters while collecting money, love, or food. Pretty weird stuff by today's standards.
A little while back, I wrote about how Lone Survivor is one of my favorite games about psychosis. Woah Dave! might soon join that list, along with games like LSD and Deadly Premonition. That said, it's never made 100% clear that Woah Dave! is about hallucinating, or anything else for that matter. When Dave dies, everything we see transforms from a dreamlike landscape to a normal city scene. Does that mean Dave's been "living the dream" a little too well? Maybe. One thing's for sure though, titular hero Dave Lonuts has plenty of things to be paranoid about. Almost everything in his world can kill him, including giant green eggs, exploding skulls, and multiple forms of cyclopes. Where do these cyclopes come from, you ask? The fried eggs, of course. Worse, the lava underneath the floor makes cyclopes mutate, as dictated by laws of unexplained alien science.
Thus begins Woah Dave! adventure of constant risk, reward and crowd control. Your goal is to make as much money as you can before you die. The only way to do that is to kill. You kill with eggs and skulls. You can only carry one thing at a time, and either one will kill you if you hold on to it for too long. That forces you to be constantly picking things up, throwing them before they get too hot, running, jumping, and planning in pursuit of maximized profits.
Woah Dave! may be a little underwhelming on the first couple of plays because it's not immediately clear that with the preparation and skill, you can put together a huge plan for big, BIG money. If you take the obvious path of killing a few newborn cyclopes with an egg, you'll collect a penny per kill. Go about a game that way and you'll probably end up with $.20 or so before all three of your lives are through. With a little experience you'll learn that letting a cyclops get to the bottom of the screen causes it to mutate into a faster, red cyclops, which nets you two pennies per kill. Let a red one get to the lava and it becomes a blue hopping cyclops, worth three pennies. Let a blue mutate and it will grow wings. Kill that jerk and you get four pennies. Farming your foes for cash is the real name of the game, though encouraging mutation isn't something for the faint of heart.
It's a similar design hook as Pac-man Championship Edition: DX, where rounding up a lot of ghosts and waiting as long as possible to kill them is the key to achieving a high score. Woah Dave! is different in that the passage of time brings other dynamic changes to the field, some of which may sneak up on you before you know it. First is the Woah Block, which falls from the sky at random if you're able to stay alive for a while. The block kills everything on screen at once, so if you're able to fill the world with higher level enemies, you can net $.30-$.50 in massive blow.
So carefully waiting things out can help you to get rich, but it also makes life way worse. You probably wont notice it at first, but the bottom floor of the screen (the one that covers the lava) is slowly disappearing. That gives you less space to maneuver, and more opportunities for the cyclops to evolve. So you'll get more mutants at a faster rate as time goes on and less places to hide from them. Increased potential risk reward, if you like it or not. It's just one of the subtle, organic ways the game gradually scales the difficulty without resorting to conventional methods.
With a little experience, you'll learn to start anticipating your death the moment you start a game. Life is short, so you've got to make as much money as fast as you can. That means grabbing eggs and getting them to the bottom of the screen as soon as you start. You want mutants and you want them now. The bottom of the screen should be crawling with monsters within a few seconds if you're playing right. That'll makes the top of the screen the safer place to hang out, though not for long. Mutated cyclopes rocket out the lava upon contact, launching them to the top, and potentially into your butt. Being constantly aware of this is what separates the good Woah Dave! players from the masters. Like with Bit.Trip CORE, learning to stop focusing on individual points in the field and instead look at everything on-screen at once is the secret to Woah Dave! excellence.
Woah Dave!'s only weakness comes from its relatively low ceiling of content. After a certain point, you stop getting concrete rewards for accruing more money and survival time. At first you get little acknowledgements of your success, like changes to the background graphics, added layers to the music, and previously mentioned Woah blocks. After the floor is completely gone, and you've bumped into a few tough to kill UFO's, you'll have seen pretty much everything in the game. On top of that there's 16 achievements to shoot for, and an unlockable Bonkers mode, which starts you off with UFOs and no bottom floor. It's a nice little assortment of rewards, but as far as I know, there is no "ending" or more content beyond what you might see at past that $1.50 mark. That might limit your motivation to keep playing regularly enough to ever hit $3-$5.
That's where which version of Woah Dave! you pick up makes all the difference. The Steam version is the best value by far, as it has online leaderboards and 2-player "tug of war" mode where you compete with a pal to see who can get rich the quickest. The iOS version has online leaderboards too, whereas the poor old 3DS has local leaderboards only. The surprisingly fun 3D graphics, the portability and the traditional controls make the 3DS version my favorite in theory. In practice, the iOS and Steam ports win out thanks to those online leaderboards. Aspiring to be a global champion is the main reason to play the game long term. Without that draw, you may be done with regular Woah Dave! play after a week or so.
Still, a week with Dave is certainly worth $2-$5. There's hours of arcade fun, strange charm, and game design science here. If you can get past the game's deceptively simple surface and are content to challenge yourself after the game stops providing new carrots to chase, you'll find Woah Dave! to be well worth your pennies.

Time to make the woah-nuts[Note: Jonathan Holmes' name appears in the Special Thanks section of Woah Dave!'s credits. No one knows why. One guess is it's because Jonathan and Woah Dave! creator Jason Cirillo had a decent conversation at PAX East 2014,...

Sep 09 //
Kyle MacGregor
That's the goal, anyway. More immediate concerns include not dying as the ship slowly edges toward to Mars. Some members of the crew are dead. Others are injured. Supplies are low. And all sorts of things need fixing. You know, things that threaten the crew's continued survival.
To remedy these issues, players will need to send astronauts to deal with hazards as they arise. This is done by rolling dice and allocating the numbers to the myriad of problems before you. Tharsis is a game of damage control. It's about knowing when to play it safe, when to put it all on the line, and praying you get lucky enough to scrape by.
One way to make do with dwindling rations is to cannibalize the corpses of your fallen comrades. Sure it's a little unsavory, but you're eating people for humanity, dammit! My experiences with this worked out okay, well, except for the part where my crew went insane.
Look forward to seeing how that turns out when Tharsis launches on iOS and Steam in early 2015.

Eat folks for the greater goodDestructoid recently caught up with the folks at Gaijin Games Choice Provisions to check out the studio's next Bit.Trip game completely new project, Tharsis.
The turn-based strategy game follows a team of astro...

Bit.Trip Flux, the final entry in the Bit.Trip series, is now available via Steam, Gaijin Games Choice Provisions announced today.
Flux takes inspiration from Pong, much like the first title in the series, Bit.Trip Beat. Play...

Gaijin Games is dead. Well, not really. They're just rebranding. After six years in business, the indie studio best known for its work on the Bit.Trip series, has decided it's time for a change. It will henceforth be known a...

Holmes talks with creator Jason Cirillo
One of the most common questions one gets asked when visiting a show like PAX East is, "what's the most fun game you've played this weekend." Woah Dave was my automatic response to any such query this past weekend. An a...

Apr 11 //
Brett Makedonski
The game quickly turns into a semi-cerebral affair of throwing everything at everything to try to simply stay alive. Eggs get thrown at monsters. Skulls get thrown at monsters. Skulls get thrown at eggs. Eggs get thrown at other eggs because you just screwed up and AHHHH THIS IS SO CRAZY!
Just because that wouldn't be confusing enough, monsters evolve if you don't clear them quickly enough. First, they just work their way downward. Then, they'll make their way up the level, too. Eventually, they turn into flying eye-creatures that exist solely to hunt your ass down. Quick! Throw an egg at that bastard!
What's this madness for, though? To make money, of course. Each time something's defeated -- be it an egg or a monster -- they drop a penny. That's right, a single coin. Once you clear thirty cents, a "Woah" block (that's right, like in Mario Bros.) appears that destroys everything on the screen, providing a much needed reprieve.
Talking with the developers, they said that a really impressive run might take five minutes or so. I certainly didn't make it that long. But, after exhausting my three lives, I walked away with $.49. It was good enough for the top of the leaderboard (even though PAX wasn't open yet, and that score is almost definitely bested by now). It might not sound like much, but Woah Dave! made me feel like I earned every single penny.

Penny by penny
Fifty cents doesn't sound like much, right? You could lose fifty cents in the couch cushion and not think twice about it. Well, I earned -- that's right earned -- almost that much in Robotube Games' Woah Dave!...

A few years ago, Bit.Trip series creator Gaijin Games acquired Robotube Games, but until recently we had not seen the fruits of that partnership. In just a couple weeks, Robotube's two new titles will be shown to the public....

Bit.Trip Presents Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien recently turned a year old. I know, I know -- you aren't impressed by the aging process. The rhythm-centric platformer also celebrated another milestone: selling one mi...

Bit.Trip Presents Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien launched very early on in the year for just about every platform under the sun. We reviewed it, and really liked it. Not long after that, Gaijin Games announced that R...

The PlayStation Vita keeps proving itself to be a serious contender for independent games, with titles like Terraria, Rogue Legacy, and Spelunky either already on the platform or in the works. To add to that list, Gaijin...

It was only with the announcement for PlayStation 4 that I started to pay any real attention to Gaijin Entertainment's War Thunder. The free-to-play WWII aerial combat title has surpassed five million players in its first ye...

Although the Good Friends Character Pack for Runner 2 has hit the PS3 and PC platforms, it's been absent from the Wii U and Xbox 360 versions of the game -- until this week, that is. Straight from the developer, the 360 will ...

Steam now has the Good Friends Bundle on sale for $24.99, and if you've been living under a rock, you may want to get in on it. Some of my favorite PC games of all time are a part of the bundle, including Bit.Trip Runner 2 (w...

Yes, that's Commander Video getting down on the dance floor with Cave Story's Quote. Bit.Trip Presents Runner2 is pretty cool like that. Gaijin Games released a downloadable character pack for its rhythmic pla...

Gaijin Games has unveiled the final trio of characters joining the colorful cast of Bit.Trip Presents Runner2 as downloadable content. Atlas of Portal 2 fame joins the roster as a Steam exclusive, whilst the eponym...

Yesterday saw the announcement of Quote and Razputin, the first two of seven all-star DLC characters for Bit.Trip Presents Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien. Today we've been treated to two more reveals, the evil Dr. Fe...

Gaijin Games have announced a game-changing load of DLC for their latest masterpiece Bit.Trip Presents: Runner2 Future Legend of Rhythm Alien. Seven "well-loved" videogame characters will make their way into the game this Th...

The Bit.Trip series' heroic protagonist has made the leap to browsers in the eponymously titled CommanderVideo. Heralded as "quite possibly the longest game in history," Gaijin Games' latest effort is a free endless runner re...

Gaijin Games has a huge sale going on right now on a bunch of the Bit.Trip games over on Steam. Bit.Trip Collection (Bit.Trip Beat, Runner, Core, and Void) is going for $11.98, and that includes the soundtracks for each game....

This week's Nintendo Download has something for just about everyone. Bit.Trip Presents Runner2 is fantastic and it's available now via the Wii U eShop. Also on the console side of things, Retro City Rampage has arrived o...

Feb 28 //
Kyle MacGregor
Bit.Trip Presents Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien (Mac, PC [reviewed], PlayStation Network, Wii U eShop, Xbox Live Arcade, iOS)Developer: Gaijin GamesPublisher: Aksys GamesRelease: February 26, 2013, March 5 (PlayStation 3), Summer 2013 (Vita & iOS)MSRP: $14.99Rig: Intel Core i7-2670QM @2.2 GHz, with 4GB of RAM, GeForce G 540M, Windows 7 64-bit
Runner2's most marked difference from the rest of the series is most definitely the visual style. There's just no way around it: Runner2 looks different. It's not what fans are accustomed to and to be honest, I was less than thrilled by the change at first. Much of Bit.Trip's appeal in that retro aesthetic style, so to see Gaijin Games shift away from that was kind of distressing.
After seeing it in motion, however, I've come to prefer the new look. The warm visuals, distinctive characters, and varied settings have really won me over. And once the accompanying chiptune-inspired soundtrack kicked in it was like nothing had changed. Runner2 may not look exactly like a Bit.Trip game but it feels very much like a worthy successor to the series.
Subdued at first, the game, like the music, builds upon itself into a crescendo. The player controls the constantly-moving Commander Video and must guide him through a series of platforming obstacle course. Slowly but surely the game introduces the player to new and different ways to interact with the environment. In no time at all Commander Video will be leaping over, sliding under, and knocking down whatever is placed in his path.
[embed]246993:47283:0[/embed]
The Bit.Trip series is well known for its difficulty. All six of the previous games are extremely challenging and can verge on seeming onerous and unfair. Runner2 is a little different in that respect. True to form, traversing the game's levels are all about reflexes and persistence. Similar to Super Meat Boy, screwing up once will mean getting sent back to the beginning of the level. However, there are no game-over screens so death rarely feels overly punishing.
Things get even more accessible this time around with a tiered difficulty system and (largely optional) mid-level checkpoints. These additions go a long way to make Runner2 more inviting to newcomers or folks that have struggled with the Bit.Trip series in the past. Unlike past entries, this game isn't terribly imposing. Those looking to experience the game on one of the lower difficulty settings are almost certain to be able to get through Runner2's five worlds without too much frustration.
That isn't to say that Runner2 is a cake walk though. Far from it. The impetus for challenge, however, is left to the discretion of the player. Scattered throughout every level in the game are dozens of items that serve to enhance the challenge. Some are easier to obtain than others. Commander Video must oftentimes put himself in harm's way to acquire them but with that risk comes reward. Upon coming into contact with gold bars and the like, the objects will emit notes that compliment the music, giving the gameplay a synesthetic quality.
While Runner2 is a platformer, it has decidedly arcade sensibilities. Amongst other actions like hurtling over obstacles or dancing if you have a free moment, collectible items contribute points to an overall score. After a level is completed, these are fed into leaderboards, allowing players to compete with friends and the community at large. If you're anything like me, you'll be looking to one-up your comrades at every turn. Prepare to crank up the difficulty and strive for perfection.
That competitive atmosphere helps flesh out the campaign a great deal, but Runner2 certainly isn't hurting for content. With over 100 levels, the game features branching paths, retro challenge levels reminiscent of the original Bit.Trip Runner and various unlockable characters and costumes. Having invested over a dozen hours into the game thus far, I'm still just scratching the surface when it comes to all the extra content.
Although the game is pretty stellar overall, it could have used some streamlining; it forces players to sit through a number of menus to get to the action, an issue exacerbated by some lengthy loading times. It's a minor complaint, but also one that speaks to the quality of the game. In the moments between levels, I just couldn't wait to get back into the thick of it.
Runner2 feels like a very natural progression for the series. The team at Gaijin Games has crafted a more nuanced and impressive follow-up to what was great title in its own right. Avant-garde but with a healthy respect for the past, Runner2 is a marvelous rhythmic platformer that just about anyone should be able to enjoy.

A towering home runBy the time Bit.Trip Runner burst onto the scene three years ago, Gaijin Games had already established itself on WiiWare with a trio of some of the best games on the platform. The retro-inspired rhythm series shared certain c...